Reaching Out

Chapter 3: Together and Free

By Grant Bentley

“You’d better phone John,” I said to Jason. I reached over, grabbed the phone from the end table and handed it to him.

He looked at me for a minute, then asked, “What if his dad answers and won’t let me talk to him?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” I told him. His eyes filled with tears again as he stared at the phone.

“Go ahead,” I said. “If his dad won’t let you talk to him, we can wait for a bit and I’ll phone. I’ll tell him I’m a friend of John’s from school and have a question about some homework or something. Then, when I get him on the phone, I’ll warn him to be careful if his dad’s around, and I’ll give the phone to you. Okay?”

He smiled. “Thanks,” he said as he dialled John’s number. The phone barely rang once before it was answered.

“Hi, John?” he asked.

“Jason, thank God, where the fuck are you? I’ve been going crazy here!” John shouted loudly enough for me to hear. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine now,” Jason responded. “I nearly froze last night, though, but Chris found me and helped me.”

Obviously, John asked who “Chris” was, because Jason’s next response was, “He’s this amazing guy who found me in the blizzard last night and saved my life.”

There was another pause, and John must have asked where we were because Jason turned to me and asked if John could come over, and what my address was. I gave it to him and he told John. The next thing he said was, “Okay, see you in a few. Bye.” He gave me the biggest smile I’ve ever seen and announced, “John will be here in about half an hour.”

For the next half-hour, I thought he was going to wear a hole in my carpet by pacing back and forth in front of the door. In almost exactly thirty minutes, my intercom buzzed. I had to laugh when Jason almost knocked it off the wall by hitting the button so hard.

Within thirty seconds, John was at the door and in Jason’s arms. They stood there holding each other and crying for two or three minutes. Finally, I gently led them into the apartment so I could close the door. They continued to hug and cry for another few minutes. Then Jason pulled back, looked into John’s eyes for a second and kissed him hard on the lips. John kissed back just as hard; then he seemed to realise they weren’t alone, and he pulled back. “It’s cool,” Jason said, and the kiss was on again. I disappeared into the kitchen and decided to put on a pot of coffee.

After about five minutes, Jason led John into the kitchen. When I turned, they were standing there holding hands. John was just as gorgeous as Jason, also about six feet tall and just as slim. However, as blond as Jason was, John was the total opposite with jet-black hair and eyes so dark you couldn’t tell where the pupil ended and the iris began.

I could tell that John was a little uncomfortable, so I just smiled and reached out to shake his hand. “Hi John, I’m Chris. It’s nice to meet you.”

As he reached out to shake my hand, he shyly responded, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you too.”

“Don’t be so nervous. You can be yourself around here,” I said. “We are all one and the same.” He just smiled at me and blushed bright red as Jason leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Suddenly, I felt like I should go somewhere and leave them alone together. ‘I could go and make coffee,’ I thought. ‘Wait a minute, that’s what I’m doing now.’

“Do either of you want a coffee, or something else to drink?” I asked.

“Yes, please,” they both replied. We fixed our coffees, then Jason asked if they could go to his room.

“Of course,” I replied, and they disappeared down the hall.

I assumed I wouldn’t see them for a while, so I decided to do the dishes and clean up. For some reason, I felt like I needed to keep busy. First, I grabbed Jason’s clothes from the living room floor. They were still damp from the night before, so I emptied his pockets and threw the clothes in the drier. I set his shoes on the heat register to dry. After getting the kitchen sparkly clean, I dug out the vacuum cleaner and went to work vacuuming the living room, hallway and my bedroom. Once that was done, I dusted a little and then decided I had done enough cleaning. I booted up my laptop and started to work on a story I was writing. It wasn’t long before I was lost in the story.

About two hours later, I heard the boys come out of Jason’s room and down the hall. I assumed they would both be hungry by now, so I saved my story and asked them if they wanted something to eat. I got a resounding, “Yes, please, I’m starving,” from both of them. I dug through the fridge to see what I could find, and finding very little, I asked if they wanted to order out. We decided on Chinese and I gave them the takeout menu from my favourite restaurant. I sent them off to find the phone and order what they wanted.

I got Jason’s clothes out of the drier, folded them and put them on the kitchen table. As soon as they came back into the kitchen, Jason said, “You dried my clothes. You didn’t have to do that, I could have done it...but thanks.” He picked up his clothes, announced that he would be right back and headed for his room.

I liked the sound of that in my mind. ‘His room.’ He had been there one day and I was already thinking of it as his room. I hoped he was doing the same.

John stood, shyly looking at me. I smiled at him and suddenly his arms were wrapped around me. He hugged me tight for a few seconds and then stepped back. He had tears in his eyes as he said, “Thank you. Thank you for saving Jason. If anything had happened to him, I don’t know what I would have done. I wouldn’t want to live if I lost him.”

I told him I just did what anyone else would have done. He let out a little laugh and said, “Jason told me you’d say that.”

Just then the buzzer sounded, indicating that the food was here. I buzzed the delivery guy up and grabbed my wallet. I paid him for the food and took it inside. John and I began to open everything and soon had it set out on the kitchen table. Jason came bounding down the hallway just as we were getting out the cutlery and plates. After last night, it was so good to see him so happy. We all dished up what we wanted and dug in like we had been starving for weeks. They had ordered a dinner for four, but when we were done, there was nothing left.

Now that we were full, we grabbed a coffee each and moved into the living room. Jason and John curled up on the sofa, and I sat back in my favourite chair, as usual.

John started the conversation by thanking me again and, as he looked into Jason’s eyes, he repeated that he wouldn’t want to live without Jason by his side. That, of course, got him a very loving kiss from Jason.

John then turned to me, and with a huge smile, he said, “This is so cool. We’ve had to sneak around, terrified we would get caught for two years. And now, wow, it’s like a dream; like we’ve finally been set free.”

“Well, here you are free,” I responded and got a huge smile from both of them, just before Jason leaned in for another kiss.

“What was that for?” John asked, grinning.

“‘Cause I love you, and ‘cause I can,” Jason replied and kissed him again.

It made me feel so good to watch the boys interact and feel totally free to show their love for each other. I felt that I had not just saved a life, but I may have made made two lives a lot more meaningful in the process. I felt a chill run down my spine and smiled to myself. ‘This is one of those moments that make life worth living,’ I thought.

Chapter 4